Forgetfulness
by Sherian
Summary: "The first time you do something, it can be disastrous". Clancy Gray has managed to defeat Ruby Daly, he has erased her memories and now he is waiting for something really can change.


**Forgetfulness**

Everything in that room sounded improper to her, almost as if it were not her room. _Where she was?_ Ruby asked herself, looking at shelves full of books. She must be wrong, right? This must be her room. _Why was she there if it were not?_

Ruby tried to remember the day before, nothing. An overwhelming fog obscured every useful memory. She saw a pale-skinned man approaching, his face strangely familiar as if she had seen it elsewhere. _That was impossible!_ A memory bloomed from the abyss into which she had become mind, she had spent her whole life hiding, refusing to reveal who she really was. _Who was she?_ Ruby cannot remember it, it's as if something has erased all traces of her entire life.

"Ruby," he addresses to her and that name does not chill her as she had expected, it sounds as strange as the rest of the room. She looks carefully at his deep dark eyes like a night without stars. There are fragments of her past that try to stay afloat while she continuing to watch him, they are there somewhere in her mind hidden.

"Who are you?" She asks and he frowns, anguished as if something is wrong with her.

"Clancy Gray" He says, Ruby has heard that name before, many times.

 _The president's son ... The only one who managed to heal..._

Murmurs invade her ears. _Heal? Were they sick?_ She wonders herself while she is tempted to cover her ears with both hands, in an attempt to silence the voices. If she was with him it means that she was healthy now.

"You are that boy, the one who managed to heal," Ruby says without hesitation, he gives her a half smile and nods.

"Am I cured too? Is that why we're free? "She asks him a few minutes later as they walk in the field watching the others dressed in blacks, walking free in the green meadows.

"No, the cure does not exist, it has never existed." His voice is grave and harsh when he says it. Ruby feels his anger, frustration behind those words as if he will finish remembering something he does not want to do. "We escaped"

"How long ago?" Ruby's voice trembles at this, she wants to know how long she knows him.

"I do not have an exact calculation, but enough time to find a safe place." She smiles at him.

 _A refuge. A Home. Our home._

That voice again invades her head, insinuating her to trust this man who has just remembered that he exists.

They go back to that room, almost at sunset. He tells her to rest and she accepts, for hours she tries to remember something, anything but at the end of the afternoon her head hurts, rest does not bring her memories back. Only several meaningless words float from the depths of her mind.

She is a bit frustrated but tries to keep it hidden when she sees him approaching dinner.

That night's dream does not bring her any memories. Will she ever begin to remember something? She hesitates to ask him as they continue with the tour the next day. This time is a little longer and for the first time, she notices the soldiers everywhere, restricting the entrances and exits.

"They are for protection." He says walking towards her. "A few weeks ago a group of new members in the camp betrayed us, it was fortunate that we were able to counteract the attack before they arrived at the camp."

"Why would they do something so terrible?" She asks fearful of his response.

"I do not know, but we'll find out when they're caught."

She dreams of the snow, covering everything around her, she can even feel the coldness of the snowflakes falling on her body. Ruby gets up in a good mood, the memories are finally returning to her. When he gets to see her, she continues smiling. "I have a surprise for you," he says his tone is cheerful but quickly his eyes turn dark and his smile fades for a brief moment.

"What happens, Clancy?"

"We will have a party tonight" She smiles and he makes her smile much wider.

Ruby does not know what to wear, she finds a red dress in a suitcase that he said was her property, it seems familiar, it must be hers, she thinks while she looks at it carefully.

She does not want to dance, but he insists. She never learned to dance when she was a child, she admits, but he offers to teach her, Clancy extends her hand and she accepts. "My father paid me a year before the disease spread throughout the country."

His tone of voice is melancholy, for the first time since she woke up she is happy not to remember anything about her parents. She wants to think that her parents were good people and that like all children she was separated from them.

Ruby remembers having lived this scene before, she can feel a warmth different from this one. She wonders if she has danced before with someone else. Feels his heart beating on her cheek while they continue to dance.

"You're really beautiful," he whispers in her ear. Those words sound familiar as if they had been said before, by another person, in another time.

Clancy bends over and kisses her, Ruby wants to move him away but the body does not respond to her, she does not even listen to the music anymore. She only feels the need to touch him, to reciprocate, she puts her hands around his neck. Ruby can feel Clancy's hands touching her on all sides, her fingers sliding from her cheeks, up to her shoulders and traveling quickly to her back. It feels bad as if it had only been right to do it with someone else.

That night, Ruby dreams of him, with Clancy Gray. She can see him and herself, kissing, touching so she has never imagined touching anyone else. The next day she only remembers Clancy's dark, deep eyes turning orange as if they were on fire.

When she opens her eyes, he is in front of her looking at her, she cannot look him directly in the eyes, not after what she has seen in dreams, begs that it is only images that her mind has cruelly twisted.

He waits a few minutes to approach her as if trying to look for something in her eyes. "Ruby, we've found them," he says with that gentle smile on his lips.

"Who have they found?" She asks as soon as he sits on the bed where she is.

"To the traitors" He responds placing his hand next to her, she moves away she cannot touch him not after what she has seen. "Everything okay?" He asks when he watches as she walks away.

"All right" Ruby gives her a half smile and he frowns apparently not satisfied with her response. "Oh, you know, do not you? You and I have been together"

She does not look up, does not know how to answer. Only slightly nods her head.

"Ruby, after the attack I did not want to pressure you to remember," He says approaching her a bit.

"I understand" He smiles and places a kiss on her lips, she tries to avoid the impulse to get away, she leaves the room with Clancy Gray, shortly after.

They go to an area that they had never been on their previous trips, the sun is still high, but Ruby feels cold. The air is frozen, she trembles a little and Clancy offers him his jacket. She accepts before entering a cabin, it is the 18, one of the last and closest to the forest.

"Sir," one of the officers says as soon as they enter the caravan. "This boy voluntarily offered himself as bait so his friends could escape"

"I did not think you would act differently. A typical act of the hero who broke a hundred kids out of Caledonia. "The tone of his voice is sharply mocking," Although a useless sacrifice, I assure you they will not get far, "he says before laughing.

Ruby goes out behind Clancy's back, she wants to see the face of the monster that almost allowed them to return to those cages. Ruby looks at the young man, he has been beaten she can see the blood in his lips and the bruises that cover most of his body and face. Ruby meets the boy right over her, her face is familiar.

She trembles, her head hurts, and she does not feel well.

"Ruby, what have you done to her?" She hears the man's voice, he knows him, he has seen him before.

"Ruby!" She can still hear his voice scream her name, she feels weak, and she falls on her knees.

 _Liam. Liam. Liam._

She knows his name. Ruby sees Clancy Gray approaching her.

 _He got the name because he slipped custody four times. Slip Kid. An orange._

His blond curly hair in contact with the rays of the sun that seep from the roof of the cabin, makes it seem to be on fire. She remembers the flames being everywhere a cold and desolate night. The fire burning everything and everyone in the camp.

Ruby remembers everything, she remembers how Clancy convinced her to teach to use her powers, she remembers his betrayal and how Liam was cruelly beaten for trying to flee the camp. She remembers to have fought with him; the information is too much for Ruby can bear it, she falls directly to the ground, exhausted.

The next time she opens her eyes, Clancy is on top of her, touching her. She does not like what he does to her. He has kissed her before, but she moves away as soon as he feels his lips join hers. "No". She screams when his mouth approaches her neck.

Ruby tries to disperse it but it is useless, it is much stronger than the last time. "Let me go"

 _Traitor, murderer, liar._

She only names him with insults. He continues his attention for her neck. "Ruby," He says and allows him to look at his memories through his eyes, just as he showed him how the doctors tried to find a cure, but this time it's different. These memories are more realistic, Ruby looks away when she sees them doing things she cannot even describe, the single scene makes her sick, she looks with horror the times he has taken in his arms. "Do you see? There is no need to be shy"

She stares at him remembering his teachings, trying to make him stop. Clancy laughs as if the scene was strangely funny. "I forgot to tell you that your powers are disconnected until further notice."

Ruby is petrified by this comment, she feels vulnerable. He has her below her body, she struggles but it is in vain. "Do not fight with me, Ruby, you want this as much as I do" his tone of voice is sweet and he just wants to hit him one more time.

The first time their bodies come together, it does not hurt, it seems your body is used to his touch. She claws his back hard as he begins to move inside her. He does not seem to care, he is too busy in the constant swing of his body against hers.

He is still on top of her when everything is over. She feels dirty, she wants to push him away but not but she cannot move or scream, she just stares at him bewildered. He moans her name in need, she just wants to stop thinking about what they have just done, she wants to force him to kill himself for what she did but remembers that her powers do not work.

She remembers the flames of that cold and lonely night, then only the darkness.

When Ruby gets up in the next morning, she does not remember her name or where she is. She looks a man approaching through the door with a plate of food, she feels his deep eyes on her, his face is familiar, she has seen him before she is sure of that.


End file.
